


Luminous Beings

by Gluten_Full



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ben Solo doesn't fall, I don't know how the force works and I don't care, M/M, Minor Poe Dameron/Finn/Rose Tico, Older DinLuke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:00:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29946906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gluten_Full/pseuds/Gluten_Full
Summary: On their first night together, truly together without any beskar or Jedi robes between them, Din had promised that he would go to the far edges of the galaxy for Luke. They were old now, weather-worn and tired. The cold of Ahch-To hand long since sunk into their bones, making them achy before their time.When Luke senses a rising darkness in his padawan, he relocates his school to a more remote and ancient place in pursuit of balance.
Relationships: Din Djarin/Luke Skywalker, Poe Dameron/Finn/Rey/Rose Tico
Comments: 43
Kudos: 131





	Luminous Beings

**Author's Note:**

> There has been so much wonderful Older!Dinluke art posted recently, and I wanted to contribute with a story. 
> 
> This messes with the events of the sequel trilogy, but is meant to be the same timeline. The First Order never rises, but the darkness that tempted Ben Solo is still there.

_For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings_

_That then I scorn to change my state with kings._

Shakespeare, Sonnet 29 

On their first night together, truly together without any beskar or Jedi robes between them, Din had promised that he would go to the far edges of the galaxy for Luke. It wasn’t a promise, he told Luke, it was a creed. He was known for taking his creeds very seriously. 

Luke laughed softly at the joke then, but understood its significance all the same. 

Soon after their marriage, it was clear that Din had no intention of ruling or restoring Mandalore.

He arrived at the planet that was not his home, got his ass ritually kicked by Bo-Katan, and that was the end of it. Soon, he was back on Yavin IV with his son and his husband, and blessedly without a title.

He’d never liked the weight or the swing of the dark saber on his side anyway. 

They were old now, weather-worn and tired. The cold of Ahch-To hand long since sunk into their bones, making them achy before their time. Or at least, before Luke’s time. Din had felt like an old man long before they’d even met. His gray hair only completed the image. 

There were days when Din longed for the warm humidity of Yavin, or the dry heat of Tatooine. There was always a chill in the air on Ahch-To, and it rained constantly, making everything feel damp and dark all the time. If Din was alone in this place, he likely wouldn’t have survived. He just wouldn’t have had the will. 

But the move was for Luke and the foundlings. He never would have left them behind, not for all the sunlight in the galaxy. They were sunlight enough. 

They’d moved quickly to Ahch-To from Yavin IV, uprooting their home in a week for the more remote, well-hidden planet. It had taken time for all of them to adjust to their new island home. After twenty years, though, Din had come to accept and even love the mild-weathered, often damp, porg-infested island as his home. But leaving Yavin IV hadn’t been an easy thing to do. 

Luke had shot out of bed, roused by some horrid nightmare that left sweaty and gasping next to Din. Din woke to Luke pulling on a robe, rambling about darkness in his apprentice, an empire, Vader, and that they were all vulnerable. For a moment, Din worried Luke meant Grogu, but Luke’s trembling voice quickly clarified: “Ben.” 

Luke held Din’s gaze for a moment, a deadly look in his eyes as he picked his lightsaber off the nightstand. 

For a horrifying moment, Din saw Luke’s lightsaber in his hand, ignited, green light bouncing off his husband’s face like an old wound. The light casts shadows on Luke’s face, and in the illuminated darkness, Din couldn’t recognize him.

A horrifying chill ran down Din’s spine, before it collided with hot rage. “Turn that thing off,” his voice thundered at him. His hand reached out behind him, towards his own bedside weapon, his blaster. Dark side or not, Ben was a foundling. A youngling. It made no difference to Din. He was a child under their protection. 

Luke switched off the blade and dropped it, horrified by his own impulses. 

Din switched on the light in their room, illuminating Luke’s scared and confused face. He wanted to yell at Luke, question his impulse, demand to know what came over him. But he could tell that Luke was asking himself all of those questions. Luke stared at his shaking hands answerless. Din shifted, moving across the bed to where Luke stood, and he took his hands in his, holding them steady before pressing kisses into them. Din guided Luke back to the mattress, wrapping his arms around him, and whispering comforts in his ear. 

Din held him until the sun rose, his tears soaking through the shoulder of Din’s sleep shirt. 

Changes were rapid after that. The school was closed, the students packed onto the Falcon, along with whatever irreplaceable Jedi artifacts they needed. Leia promised that what was left would be protected by the Republic. Luke only had time to trust her. 

Leia met them on Yavin IV the day they left. She hugged her son tight, as if her affection alone could change the inevitable. 

“I’ll protect him, Leia,” Luke promised once Ben was on the Falcon. “Whatever this is, I’ll do what I can to protect him from it.” 

“I know you will,” she said. The leaned forward and kissed the top of her forehead. 

“And I am sorry.” Din wondered if Leia knew what he was apologizing for, if she could sense it, or if Luke had told her about it. She accepted whatever apology she thought he was making. 

  
  


There wasn’t a way to outrun the dark side, Luke told Din. “Ben will have to confront it. But whatever is influencing him,” Luke sounded sure it was something outside of Ben, not something inside of him, “will be kept far away.” 

“Why this place?” Din asked in their small room on the Falcon. 

Luke sighed. “We’ve spent years trying to rebuild the order in a new way, but …” He ran a hand through his hair, the added fluffiness making him look a few years younger. “Maybe I’ve been relying too much on the records of the old order before it’s fall.” 

“What do you mean?” 

Luke sat down. “At the height of their power, the Jedi order allowed Darth Sideous to rise, take power, and establish the Empire.” Luke looked at him. He looked afraid, but steady, grounded for the first time since his nightmare. “It’s time for the Jedi order to end.” 

And so they settled on Ahch-To. 

Luke had explained to everyone that it was an ancient place. But when Din stepped off the ship, he understood what he meant. The island _felt_ ancient. 

Din wasn’t force sensitive, that much was obvious to everyone. But on Ahch-To, he felt like he could be. 

“The island is strong with the dark and the light side of the force,” Luke explained to the padawans during their first lesson. “Connect to the island,” the children closed their eyes, placed their hands on the ground, and began to feel. “Powerful light, powerful darkness. At the center there is --” 

“Balance,” Ben said. 

Luke smiled. “Yes, balance. Very good.” 

  
  


Din and Luke had claimed the biggest stone hut for themselves. “How is this ‘ending’ the Jedi?” Din asked as they made their make-shift bed for the first night. They had an inflatable mattress with some simple sheets. They would get to work assembling beds and the rest of the furniture in the morning. The huts had stone slabs that seemed to be beds, but they were already too old for something like that.

“The Jedi only dealt with the light side of the force. They believed in their strength in it to the point of vanity. They feared the dark side, avoided it, and believed they were stronger than it. It left them blind to it. Vulnerable to it.” Luke got under the covers. “Here, though, both forces flow together in balance. The students will learn the ways of the light side, use the light side, and trust in it. But they won’t be ignorant to the dark side.” 

“You don’t think that’s dangerous?” Din asked. 

Luke took a deep breath. “Perhaps if they can confront the dark side, they’ll learn that it never offers them what they need. And it rarely gives them what they want. I’m hoping that will be enough to keep Ben and the others from it’s temptation.” 

Din moved close to him and let Luke continue. “The ancient Jedi who lived here understood that. They let the force flow through them, became on with it. They didn’t believe that the force belonged to the Jedi. That’s vanity. It belongs to all of us.” Luke blew out the candle, leaving them in darkness. “The Jedi and the Sith can be destroyed and remade over and over again forever, but the force will always be there.” 

Din nodded, mostly understanding. He didn’t ask many questions, sure that Luke was tired and still working it out on his own. 

“So, a new kind of force-user then?” He asked. 

Luke wrapped his arms around Din. “Exactly. Balanced.” Luke shifted in the dark, letting the force guide him to Din’s face to kiss him until Din understood just how grateful Luke was for him. 

  
  


The search for new foundlings didn’t end after the move. It was harder to find children willing to come to such a remote place. It was harder for parents to visit or move to, and the comm connection wasn’t always reliable. Many of their foundlings were orphans. 

Din’s job was simple - find new foundlings every time Luke sensed a wayward force-sensitive child lost in the galaxy. Sometimes they were closer than others. Sometimes, he ended up on planets more desolate than Tatooine chasing a nine-year-old through a sand dune. 

Rey came easily enough when she realized Din had food. He always seemed to have the most luck with the small, hungry ones. 

  
  


It took Luke a long time to admit he was going gray. Din noticed the gray hairs on his head before Luke did. There wasn’t much reason to look in mirrors on Ahch-To, but Din had plenty of reasons not to take his eyes off his husband. 

When Din first told him about them, Luke combed through his blond hair in disbelief. “Stress,” he insisted, even though his sister already had her fair share of grays. 

It was the beard that did it. Luke had decided to grow one to keep himself warm, and because it was too much work to maintain the clean-shaven look. Or at least that’s what he told Din. Din suspected it had something to do with his softening face and emerging wrinkles. Still, Din didn’t confront him about it. If Luke was truly worried, he’d talk to Din. After a decade together, they didn’t have any reason to hide from each other. 

But when the beard came in gray, Luke did get upset. “I’m _old,”_ he whined. 

Din laughed. “You must think I’m ancient then.” His husband was barely past forty, while Din was already comfortably fifty. His hair was graying slower, yes, and his skin wasn’t as wrinkled, having spent much less time exposed to the sun. But his bones and muscles ached every day. He had smile lines in the corners of his eyes (courtesy of Luke and Grogu he was sure. Not that he’d trade them for anything). 

“No, you’re still hot,” Luke assured him, “but I’m …” his thoughts trailed off. Din held his husband’s face in his hands. 

“You’re as beautiful as the day I met you.” 

They weren’t young anymore, but they made love like they were. Despite how rocky and damp Ahch-To was, they had managed to make a warm home with a soft bed, still soft enough to press the other into. 

By the end of their second decade together, Luke had grown into his gray hair (not that he had much of a choice.) Din didn’t leave the planet anymore. They trusted Rey, Ben, and Finn to track down new force-sensitive children. Sometimes Grogu would go with them. Din was still uncomfortable letting him off-world for too long, but he was seventy now, and he behaved more like Rey did when he met her for the first time. Closer to a teenager than a baby. Din hadn’t gotten used to hearing him speak, even if it had been twenty years since his first words. 

“Buir,” Grogu yelled towards him. Din looked up and saw the familiar shape of the Falcon coming closer. Han had reluctantly bequeathed it to his son a few years ago at Leia’s insistence. It served them all well when they could keep it operational. 

Din poked his head inside the library. “They’re back,” he told him. Luke’s smile suggested that he already knew they had arrived, but he chose not to tease Din about it. 

Din slipped his helmet back on. He had become comfortable going around the island without it, thinking of the foundlings as all of his clan, even if Grogu and Luke were still the only official members, but he still preferred to meet strangers with his face covered. 

“Bad news,” Rey said, stepping off the ramp, boxes of supplies in her arms, “Finn is in love again.” 

“Still Poe?” Luke asked. 

Finn had met Poe on one of his first trips off world. Luke had chuckled fondly at Finn’s description of a young, hot pilot with brown eyes and curly hair. (“Sounds like someone I used to know,” he’d mused. Din had bumped him with his shoulder, urging him to leave the love-struck twenty-year-old alone.) As much as Luke teased him about his crush, he was always sure to include necessary supply pick-ups on Coruscant in any off-world travel itinerary. Gave Finn a chance to see his crush, and Ben a chance to see his family. 

“Yes, and -” 

“Rose,” Finn cut her off, stepping off the ship with some of their bags. “You should have seen her …” Finn continued his chatter as Luke looked into the Falcon, waiting for the new student to emerge. Din took the boxes from Rey, and tried to get Finn to move towards unpacking them. 

“So you’re over Poe then?” Din asked. That would be a seismic shift in the universe. 

“No. The maker gave me two hands for a reason.” Luke laughed as Din and Finn wandered off to unpack. 

“Where did you end up?” Luke asked Rey. 

“Canto Bight,” she said, disgusted with the name of the planet. They had been gone a few weeks longer than expected. The child was well-hidden, but Ben was a bonafide Knight, and Finn and Rey were near their own trials. 

“How many --” 

“Just one came with us,” Rey said. “But, they had a lot of children there.” She didn’t need to explain what that meant to Luke. There were elements of the old Empire still rooted deep in the Galaxy. Slavery was only one of those remaining systems. “We tore up the town, got the kids out. They’re with Leia now.” 

Luke nodded. “And our little one?” 

“Ben should be out with him any minute.” 

A moment later, Ben stepped out of the Falcon, a tired little boy in his arms, hanging onto him. “It’s been a long few days,” Ben said, adjusting the kid in his arms. The boy looked like he was nine or ten years old, too big to be carried like that under normal circumstances. 

When they reached the ground, Ben placed the kid on his feet. He adjusted his hat and stood tall in front of Luke, not saying anything. Luke knelt down to be at his height and smiled. 

“This is Master Luke,” Rey said above him, “he trained us.” 

Luke held out his hand, and the kid stared at the metal, eyes wide. “It won’t hurt you,” Luke promised him. The kid smiled, and shook it. “Do you have a name?” 

“Jallo,” he said. 

“It’s very nice to meet you Jallo. Would you like to see this island?” He nodded with some enthusiasm. “We’ll take good care of you here, don’t you worry.” 

  
  


Without a doubt, Din loved retirement. Finn had asked him if he missed being a bounty hunter, or being around other Mandalorians. He’d considered the question for a moment as he unpacked boxes of new linens, wools, and other fibers for clothes. 

“Sometimes,” he admitted, “but mostly not.” 

He did miss the Covert, and Mandalore on occasion. On the island, though, he felt more Mandalorian than he ever had in some ways. Luke and him had a large clan, with lots of foundlings from all over the galaxy. They’d rescued them from starvation, slavery, and the Empire. They trained them to fight with all of their strengths. 

They were raising warriors. 

On their anniversary every year (and at moments they felt particularly sentimental), they would say their vows back to each other. Reassuring them of their promise. The night it became clear that they would leave Yavin IV, Din whispered those words in Luke’s ear to help calm him. He had said them again their first night on the island. They meant everything. 

“How’s the new foundling settling in?” Din asked, sitting on the small couch in their hut. Luke moved in closer to him, the way he always did. After twenty years, he’d thoroughly given up on trying to get Din to call them Younglings. Din wrapped an arm around him, pulling him even closer. He rubbed his husband’s shoulder, feeling the soft gray fabric of his pajamas. “These are nice. They new?” 

“Leia sent them along with the other supplies. She sent you a pair too.” Din made a mental note to thank her on their next comms call. “And Jallo is doing well. He opened up quickly once he saw the other kids. He’s a hard worker. And brave.” 

“Sounds like a great student.” 

Luke nodded. He had slowly grown more secure in his own teaching abilities, but that growth was slow moving, stalled for years because of his near-mistake with Ben. Each new youngling was a new challenge that he still didn’t always feel equipped to handle. He looked at Jallo, a young boy with shaggy blond hair rescued from slavery, and wondered if his Jedi reforms would be enough. Or if the darkness that had prayed on Ben had only become dormant, waiting for someone like Jallo. 

But Jallo was only a child. He’d been on the island for six hours, if that. Luke took a few breaths, trying to recognize his anxieties and release them into the force. There was no need to worry that seriously about Jallo or any of his students.

He rested his head on Din’s shoulder, jealous of his husband’s retirement. “Did Finn ever stop talking about his new girl?” 

Din laughed. “Hardly.” 

“Do you think we were ever like that?” Luke asked, holding onto Din’s hand. They were softer now than they used to be, no longer deeply calloused from constant work and flying a ship. Another benefit of retirement. 

“I don’t think so,” Din said, before adding, “I’m sure Leia might disagree.” 

“Well Leia doesn’t count.” 

Din pressed a kiss into the top of Luke’s head, feeling too old and too nostalgic. Luke might have sensed his feelings, or he might have just felt the same way. The distinction didn’t matter much, though. What mattered were his husband’s soft lips and rough beard on his own. They parted after a minute, still smiling at each other. 

Luke stood up and made his way to the holo system on the far end of the room. Technology was limited on the island, but they made do with what they had. They weren’t going to stay entertained on Jedi texts and Mandalorian songs alone. 

He switched on an old familiar song, and held his hand out to Din as a silent offering. Din groaned as he got off the couch, but accepted the invitation with gratitude. 

Din put his hands on Luke’s waist, and Luke put his arms around Din’s neck. “When was the last time we danced?” Luke asked as they started to move. 

Din smiled and moved them around in a small circle. “Last week.” 

Luke smiled at the recent memory. “Do you remember those Republic parties Leia used to drag us to?” Luke asked, resting his head on Din’s shoulder as they swayed. 

Din chuckled. “You mean back when I was a king?” 

“You would have made a great king,” Luke said. 

Din held him closer and tighter. “It was never what mattered to me.” 

If Grogu or the others heard the song they were dancing to, they would make fun of them for listening to their “old man music.” But it didn’t matter to the two of them. They were old men now, after all. 

Luke kept his head on Din’s shoulder, pressing his body closer as they rocked back and forth in their living room, barely in time with the music. Din’s hand made it’s way up Luke’s back and into his soft hair. It was longer now than it had ever been. 

They remembered the song well. They had danced to it their first night in public together. Their partnership (not yet a marriage) was, for some, a political blessing, and for others a political nightmare. He remembered Leia not yet knowing which side she was on. But they’d danced together, Din’s steps clumsy in his armor, Luke’s steps a sign of his unrefined upbringing. They threatened to embarrass themselves, the Republic, and Mandalore with their lack of grace. But that didn’t matter to them. They were in love. Before long, they’d be married. Luke would come to know every line of Din’s face with intimate detail. Not that night, though. That night they barely knew anything. Luke hadn’t known if their partnership would last. Now, it felt impossible to imagine a tomorrow without him. 

Luke suddenly felt the cool and familiar press of beskar against his cheek. He didn’t know where it had come from. Din had been in pajamas a moment ago. He looked up, and met Din’s visor. His husband was in his armor, except it wasn’t scratched and dented with time; it was new, polished. The armor of a king. 

Luke looked down at his own robes: black and gold, opulent, too fancy for his farm boy of Jedi taste. He remembered them. Leia had picked them out and nearly wrestled him into them, insisting that he looks nice for the party. 

His hands were young. Din’s hands ran through his hair. Though his eyes were hidden, Luke could tell Din was staring at his face. 

They weren’t in their living room anymore. The simple cabin had been replaced with a New Republic Ballroom. The same song played, only now it sounded new and unfamiliar. 

That night, they had been surrounded by hundreds of insufferable politicians crowding them, making the room too warm. 

Now, though, it was just them, young again. For the first time in over twenty years, Luke felt the familiar pang of new love. Excited and afraid all at once. But mostly excited. His hands went to the back of Din’s neck, pressing down the fabric there just enough for his fingertips to brush the exposed skin. _Scandalous,_ he thought. He’d done it that night, and he’d done it now, regretting none of his indiscretions. He smiled at Din, flirty, in love, and a little bit bratty - his signature combination in the early days. Din placed his hands on the small of Luke’s back and pressed him in closer. In the crowded room, that move had turned a lot of heads (and landed Leia with some less-than-proper questions about the nature of her brother’s relationship). 

Luke had wanted to kiss him then, and he wanted to kiss him now. But he settled for the Mandalorian way, pressing his forehead to Din’s helmet. 

Din took one of Luke’s hands off his neck, holding it in his own, and he began to lead them in a real dance, attempting to follow the steps of those around him. Or at least follow the rhythm of the song. He didn’t succeed in doing either very well, but Luke didn’t care. 

They kept dancing, not caring about how clumsily they moved. They had a ballroom all to themselves. 

The vision ended with the song, fading the scene back to their living room, their heavy, fancy clothing replaced with their pajamas, their youth replaced with age. The passion of new love lingered between them. Feeling it again, though, Luke realized it had never gone away; it had merely settled down, becoming something more balanced. 

Din’s hands came to his face and wiped away tears he hadn’t realized he was crying. But DIn was crying too. They gave up on trying to stop the other from crying after a moment of fruitless efforts, choosing to kiss again instead. 

“Did you do that, or -” 

“Just some weird force thing,” Luke said. Weird force things were common on Ahch-To, but they had never felt something like that. “I could try to bring it back …” 

“No,” Din said, one hand on Luke’s face, the other on the back of his neck. 

Luke smiled, sweetly at first, but then it shifted to something more flirty. It was a dangerous look that Din was all too familiar with. “Maybe I could bring back our first night back on Yavin.” 

Din’s face flushed at the memory of the first night together. “You wicked man.” Luke confirmed his accusation by kissing him again. 

The force didn’t reward these affections with a memory. It was for the best. Only a few minutes later, Grogu walked in, making a phony gagging sound at the sight of his parent’s embrace in the living room. 

They apologized to the kid, and got him ready for bed. “Jallo is nice,” he told them while they tucked him in. 

  
  


The two slipped into their own room, ready for bed. Luke sat on the edge of their mattress, and Din knelt behind him, slowly massaging the knots out of Luke’s shoulders. This nightly routine had started years ago. Din took joy in it every night, slowly helping his husband relax, alleviating his tension and stress in one way. 

“I talked to Ben today,” Luke said. Din expected more; he talked to Ben every day on the island. “About the future of the order.” 

Din continued the massage. “Oh?” 

Luke nodded. “He’s getting older. I expect he’ll want to leave soon. When he leaves, Rey will follow, and Finn will follow her.” 

Din let the silence hang in the air for a moment, trying to think about what that would look like, and what that would mean for the life they’d built here. But he couldn’t see the future clearly. “What will that mean?” 

Luke shrugged. “Not sure yet. Ben won’t do anything until Rey and Finn have finished their training, but …” he turned to face Din, “we might relocate.” 

“Again?” 

“We have gotten what we’ve needed from this place,” Luke said, taking his hands. “We’ve built a new order, chronicled new teachings, made peace and balance with the force.” Luke pulled Din’s face down to his, bumping their foreheads together before kissing him. “It’s time to bring that to the rest of the galaxy.” 

Din understood. In the early days of Grogu’s teachings, when he and Luke were barely even friends, Luke had explained that the force was everywhere. Some people, like Grogu, were more in tune with it, able to use it, wield it, sense it. Others, like Din, couldn’t manipulate it in those ways, but that didn’t mean it didn’t affect them. 

“It’s like light,” Luke had said then, “even when you can’t see it, and even when you don’t believe in it, it’s always there, somewhere.” 

The force belonged to everyone; it kept the universe in balance. It was a balance Luke had fought hard for and sacrificed dearly for. 

Din kept Luke’s face close to his with a steady hand on the back of Luke’s neck. “What will that mean for us?” 

“I’ve spent enough time dragging you around the galaxy,” Luke said, “it’s your turn to drag me some places.” 

“You won’t be teaching?” Din asked. 

“I’ll remain a Master, of course. Help Ben, Rey, and Finn until more students come of age. But I’m tired. I want to see the rest of the galaxy,” he said, smiling, “you know, while we’re still young.” 

Din pulled Luke into the bed, his arms wrapped around him as they gently tumbled together onto the soft surface. “I’d follow you anywhere,” Din promised. 

“Even another Republic party?” 

Din pretended to think for a moment; he didn’t have to think about his answer, it was always ‘yes’ with Luke. But it was still fun to make him squirm sometimes. “I guess, if it would make you happy,” Din said. “Besides, we had so much fun at the last one.” 


End file.
